Perhaps you can read it....you may be able to click on it.
Joe the Salamander by Timothy Gager
Golden Antelope Press
ISBN 978-1-952232-69-5 pb; 239 pp.; $19.95
ISBN 978-1-952232-70-1 ebook;
$8.95
Release date July 1, 2022
Diversity Fiction, Magical Realism
Joe the
Salamander, tells
the story of Joe Gamut, a brilliant boy whose infatuation with Superman helps
him through his struggles in the neurotypical world. Timothy Gager creates charmingly wise and foolish support characters, captures quirky 1990s
nostalgia, and tells a poignant story about life with or on the
spectrum.
The book is
divided into seven parts, each detailing a section of the Gamuts’ life. In a prologue, Joe’s
father, Adrian, describes his own uncomfortable youth in foster care, and his
finding solace and stability in young Millie Englander, now Millie Gamut. In part one Millie gives birth to Joe while
Adrian, overwhelmed, hands out candy cigarettes to pedestrians on the street.
Like his father, Joe rides a different rainbow.
As a newborn, he tries to please those around him by refusing to cry;
when he realizes they want him to cry, he complies, nonstop, for days.
He’s preternaturally sensitive, but balance is hard. As toddler and pre-schooler, he finds comfort
in all things Superman—tv, cape and t-shirt—and in his cure-all word:
“Yes.”
When Joe begins
school, he excels in writing but speaks only his “Yes.” As teachers try to implement flawed
Individual Learning plans, Millie practices patience and incremental
repetition, balancing Adrian’s hyper-focus and fears. An engaging young nurse, Laura Wellin,
befriends the family, giving readers yet another lens through which to
appreciate Joe’s world—and her own.
Shades Creek, a pet store owner whose energy creates a city-wide
Salamander Festival—he understands Joe instinctively. It’s the “normalcy” of grandparents and
psychiatrists who wish to control one another that gets ironic treatment from
our author.
By part six,
after a popular kid has saved him from high school bullying, Joe finds himself
accepted by his peers. Then, just as things are looking up, his life is
upended, leaving him more unsupported than he’s ever been. After a long gap of time, Joe’s struggles in
the neurotypical world end surprisingly, and, we think, well.
Timothy Gager’s
Joe the Salamander draws good-humored yet serious attention to the
importance of accepting diversity, reminding readers that no matter our
differences, our abilities, our disabilities, or our circumstances, we are
never fully alone.
Author Biography:
Timothy Gager has published 16 books of fiction and poetry.
He hosted the Dire Literary Series of author interviews in Cambridge, MA
from 2001 to 2018, and spun off a virtual series starting in 2020. Gager
co-founded The Somerville News Writers Festival and has had over 1,000 pieces
of fiction, micro-fiction, and poetry published—including 17 nominated for
Pushcart Prizes. His work has also been nominated for a Massachusetts Book
Award, The Best of the Web, The Best Small Fictions Anthology, and has been
read on NPR. Joe the Salamander is
his third novel. He lives in Dedham, Massachusetts with some fish and a
rabbit, and is employed as a social worker.
Golden Antelope Press
715 E McPherson St., Kirksville, MO 63501 ; PO Box 906, Crestone CO 81131
www.goldenantelope.com 660-349-9832; 665-229-2997
bdelmoni@truman.edu ndelmonico@sbcglobal.net
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Meanwhile I have a PROOF copy (See? There it is on my dining room table). I have approve it, then the process of Golden Antelope sending it out for review begins....then Advanced Reading Team, and finally release date, hence the delay
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